Initial reports claim that "sales at the promotional machines had already more than doubled within just over a month after the program’s launch, and most purchases are indeed paid with a BRL 2 note." While this sounds promising, there's no mention of how much more the books were priced before the new model was implemented, nor the profit margin beforehand. Furthermore, in looking at the vending machine, it's not apparent that customers are given any real reason why they should pay more than the minimum for the book. The books are just placed in a normal looking vending machine -- customers can't leaf through the book or even look at the back cover until after they've bought the book (and decided what to pay for it). This seems like a lost opportunity. Especially in a pay-what-you-want situation, it's still about giving customers a reason to pay more.

Reader Comments

They could do more, but part of the problem looking at this from the outside is lacking the entire frame of reference to what kind of books these are.

Are they just Wikipedia scrapes like some Kindle books?
Are they short pulp chapters?

This would change what people would think the value is, but failing to connect with the consumer means this machine will more often than not just get 2 BRL notes and nothing more.

If it was a serialized book, and there was a note that said here is chapter 1, and next to it was chapter 2... and you really liked chapter 1 a note spelling out how much the author gets after they collect their printing fee of X might encourage people to support the authors they enjoyed.

It is the start of an interesting idea, but so many factors they don't cover.

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much more focused on the books themselves, so one can gain an understanding of what it is they are actually selling.

Imagine a machine with DVDs in it, with nothing labeled on them. Without knowing what they were would you stick $1 into the slot to get one? Would you put in more to get one? Is there a label on the machine that says pay what you want?

Left with more questions than answers, but missing waypoints to even find the path towards and actual answer.

One of the problems with all the pay what you think it's worth models is that's had to do without seeing/hearing/reading or experiencing the item. I'll pay a fraction of what I might think it's worth just to try it. After that, it's about 50/50 with some I think, "glad I didn't pay more" and "wow that was great and worth more" or I want more. No one offers a way to pay more after the original purchase.

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imagine if you put a QR code on the back of the book that when scanned let you put a "tip" into the authors tip jar. Not something where the publisher gets another cut, but direct connection between author and reader. Pick how much you want to "tip" and maybe be able to add a few lines about what you liked. A smart author would have this on a page that lists other titles they have done in the same genre.

People are tired of the sameo sameo models where you know no matter what you actually paid, in the end only a tiny portion actually gets to the writer/singer/painter/etc. Its unlikely someone will buy the same book multiple times to show how much they liked it, but offering them a way like I suggested above might make that connection.

The "traditional" business model that many think of is always about profit per item - profit margin.

But now, with so much electronic, it should be about quantity, since so many things now can be duplicated freely.

Even in the case of the physical books here - if they cost $0.50 to make - you can perhaps sell "X" amount at $22.95 or something - as it common in the US.

But if you can sell them at $2.00 each and sell 100 times as many - why not? Perhaps in raw numbers, in the short term it might look like you would have made more at $22.95 - but once you foster or re-kindle the reading interest in many people, if the books are cheap - they may buy 20 times the amount they would have at $22.95 - in the long term, making even more.

But most of these companies now a days are SO focused on the short term, that they totally ignore the long term.

Companies today don't consider loyalty or return customers in their day to day business - the goal is to shaft the customer hard, so that even if they don't come back, you can meet your quarterly projections.

This is why there are some companies I outright avoid totally - I don't care how 'new' or 'cool' their new product is - I know it will be junk.

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You are making the assumption that the total buying market is 100 times larger at the low price point then the high one. Further, you are forgetting that the margin on the 50 cent sale is pretty low... you might lose 45 cents of it to processing, accounting, maintenance, etc. "Infinite goods" aren't really infinite at all, unless you specifically don't have a business attachment to them at all.

There is no proof that the cheap download market would be big enough to make up for the loss in hardcover sales. Further (see Glyn's story above), it is clear that Ebooks are about to undergo the same piracy revolution that hit music and movies. It's doubtful that people will pay $2 for something they can get easily for free.

Imagine a machine with DVDs in it, with nothing labeled on them. Without knowing what they were would you stick $1 into the slot to get one? Would you put in more to get one? Is there a label on the machine that says pay what you want?

At $1.00? yeah, I might buy a couple. It's only a buck.

Each time I go to the grocery store, I glance at the movies - I see "$14.95" or more. Then I think - well, I'm already paying for on-demand, so I'll skip that.

How many do they sell that way? :)

None. I'm not paying more than 10 bucks for a movie anymore - ever. Period. They are easy to duplicate and I know it.

I may not torrent them, but I won't pay stupid prices for them either. Of course, I don't really need torrent with on-demand, plus I'm a gamer mostly anyway.

it is clear that Ebooks are about to undergo the same piracy revolution that hit music and movies. It's doubtful that people will pay $2 for something they can get easily for free.

But on that - most any book you can buy - is free, right now, at the library...

And either way - in today's digital age, knowing how easy it is to duplicate content - I'm simply not going to pay the 'old' prices.

Do without? Sure I will. It's not a big deal - because on the total other side of the coin - there is such a huge volume of *legit* stuff out there for free - what does it matter?

I can often get more enjoyment out of reading blogs than a book and I can often get more enjoyment watching stuff on YouTube than paying $14.95 for a 90 minute movie.

There are free games, free movies, free music, free books out there on the web in massive quantities. I bet I can find more free books on the web now than most brick and mortar stores have - and I'm totally talking legit content.

And if not, the library is 5 minutes from my house. I can check out whatever I want for free.

There are a few books I might be willing to pay more than $20.00 for - but not many.

Over the last couple years, the only time I have paid that much for a book are technical training types of books. Otherwise, I grab them up cheap at places going out of business or used book stores.

I went to on big chain bookstore that was closing recently - I bought a stack of cheap books, but many there were still full price - I suppose they can just keep those.

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The issue you run across is that the total market in most things is actually very limited. Angry birds is wildly popular, yet in a population of 6 billion, they only have 500 million downloads - and that with multiple products given away for free mostly.

The market is not unlimited.

Harry Potter books? Well, actually, the series got quite the boost by being artificial scarce to start with. Part of the buzz was the school library having a single copy, and kids clambering to be the next one to get it. Had the book been made widely available very cheaply on the first day of release, it is very likely that any buzz would have died down quickly, and Rowling would be off working at the coffee shop to pay the bills.